


Count Ten and Pray

by misura



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Community: rounds_of_kink, Eggsy as Galahad, Harry as Arthur, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 08:48:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8049874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Eggsy gets hurt on a mission. Harry takes it rather poorly.





	Count Ten and Pray

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: _Harry/Eggsy, he's stopped the plot, but not in time_

With seven minutes and change left, Eggsy figures he's got this one in the bag; been here, done this, got the pat on the shoulder and the 'well done, Galahad' that's a far cry from what he'd maybe sort of like to get from Harry but still worlds better than Merlin going, "Fuckin' hell."

"What?" Eggsy says, looking around for any signs of trouble he couldn't handle in less than seven minutes - or, well, make it six, to be on the safe side. He's lost his glasses during the fight back in the hall, so it's eyes-only right now, which is nothing he can't handle or hasn't done before.

"Get out," and it's _Harry_ talking in his ear all of a sudden, not Merlin. "Get out _now_."

"What, and let this thing right here go off? Don't think so, bruv."

"Eggsy," Harry says, breaking about fifty different rules of radio protocol (well, all right, _one_ , but it's kind of a biggie, innit?). "That was an order."

"Abort mission," Merlin says. "I repeat, Galahad, abort mission." Which would be fine - clear enough, no need to yell or get all personal, but Eggsy's _right there_. Half a minute, and he's out of here, job well done, now how about a nice dinner by way of saying 'thank you very much for saving the world'?

(Unlikely, but hope springs eternal.)

"Galahad." Harry again, back to using proper code names and everything. "Acknowledge, please."

The timer hits seven minutes, seven seconds, and some of the lights start blinking in a way that is not at all reassuring. Eggsy feels his mouth go dry. "Fuck."

"I'll consider that an 'order acknowledged'," Merlin says. "Now may I suggest you get to moving? Closest exit should be to your left - west side of the building."

In the movies, when you got a bright, blinky timer keeping time, you can trust it to be reliable. Your villain may be a lying scumbag and a vile excuse of a human being, but machinery don't lie.

Sadly, as they say, this ain't that kind of movie.

Eggsy gets to moving.

 

Next time he opens his eyes, he's in a hospital bed. There's a chair next to the bed where Harry _isn't_ sitting, slumped and asleep after a long bedside vigil.

On the other hand, Merlin's there, standing, looking like he hasn't slept in days. That's something, Eggsy supposes.

"Ah, Eggsy. Decided to rejoin us, have you?"

"Reckoned you was gonna miss me if I didn't," Eggsy says. Everything that's supposed to be there is there; hands, feet, a nice collection of bandages and bruises - the works. "How's Harry?"

"How do you _think_ Harry is?" Merlin frowns, staring at the clipboard-tablet-thing in his hands.

Eggsy wonders what's on it. "That bad, eh?" Part of him - the stupid part, clearly - looks forward to Harry walking in here, all prickly and annoyed-like. It takes an effort to get Harry all riled up, and Eggsy reckons that if he can't get it any other way, he'll settle for getting it by almost-but-not-quite dying (the hell he will).

"Oh, it's bad, all right." Merlin pulls up the chair. Eggsy tries not to resent him for taking the chair that was supposed to have Harry in it. "Think that church thing was bad? You best reconsider."

Eggsy remembers 'the church thing'. Eggsy has _nightmares_ about 'the church thing'.

"What, he went and got himself shot again?" There's no one else in this room, and as far as Eggsy knows, there's only one place where wounded Kingsmen ends up. All Kingsmen being right brilliant, it's not a big place, and most of the year, it's empty.

Merlin blinks. "Shot? Why - oh, no. Not shot. The bit before that. Turns out, we found our bomb-making friend's HQ. Nice place, really; classical architecture, good climate, very hands-off local government."

"But - " Eggsy says. "He's _Arthur_." Arthur never goes out into the field. It's not in his job description. According to Roxy, who is a good friend and a better listener, Arthur's actually not even _allowed_ to go out into the field, although Eggsy'd like to meet the person who thinks they can stop Harry from doing anything he wants. (Well, no, he wouldn't. Not unless Harry was there, too, to prove them dead wrong.)

"So he is," Merlin says. "Maybe think about that a little next time you go and disobey a direct order and give the rest of us back here a bad scare?"

Eggsy considers making his case while he's still in a hospital bed and thinks better of it. "So he's all right, then?"

"Oh, he's just peachy." Merlin shakes his head at his clipboard. "So how do you feel? Think you're up for a bit of walking? Some food, perhaps?"

 

It's a close thing, but Merlin reports some 'unexpected delays' (right) and so by the time Harry gets back from massacring a building full of people who definitely (Eggsy assures himself) had it coming all by his lonesome, Eggsy's up and about and plenty capable of standing up and letting Harry have a good yell at him - or possibly he'll get off with a brief speech about duty, debts and disappointment. (He'd like the yelling better, truth be told, but Harry being Harry, the speech is far more likely.)

"Eggsy," Harry says, looking like a man who has been doing nothing more strenuous than taking a few business meetings and perhaps had a cup of coffee earlier this morning. "Good."

Eggsy wonders what that 'good' is supposed to mean. Good, you're here? Good, you're fit for duty again? Good, you're alone and we can have a Serious Talk about me being disappointed in you?

All fun possibilities. With that in mind, and the best defense being a good offense, "I thought you wasn't supposed to be going around killing people no more."

Harry sits down. He doesn't look old - Harry's well fit, always has been. A bit tired, though, a tad wary, like he knows something Eggsy don't.

"Special circumstances."

To push or not to push. "Really? What was so special about them, then?"

"I needed to work off some steam. This mission came up," Harry says. "Little risk, high reward."

Eggsy's seen the feed. He's not sure why Merlin gave him access (well, he _suspects_ ) but he's seen every bloody second of Harry's 'little risk, high reward' mission.

He'd agree about the first part. Harry's still a Kingsman. "What, you got fed up with the paperwork?"

"Something like that," Harry says.

Eggsy can't imagine _not_ being a Kingsman. "You want your old job back?" It's not his to offer, probably, but never mind. Eggsy's pretty sure the real round table had a few extras around, so if Harry wants to be Galahad again, that's fine with him. He can be someone else.

"I'm not the man I once was," Harry says, which isn't 'no', exactly. "Besides, when you're not disobeying orders, you make a fine Galahad. It would be unfair to take that away from you."

"Thanks."

Harry looks like he's thinking too hard about something. "You're a Kingsman now, Eggsy. It means that there are a great many people who depend on you, whose lives will be directly influenced if something were to happen to you. Who would mourn you, if the worst were to occur."

"Well, and that goes for you, too, don't it? Double, even. I mean, what with you being Arthur now and all."

"I was never in any danger," Harry says.

Eggsy waits.

"I was emotionally compromised, yes, but I was fully aware of my actions at all times."

 _Not according to Merlin, you weren't._ "What, just because I got a few scrapes and bruises?"

Harry's lips do that thing they do when other people (normal people) would grimace. "Have you eaten yet? I thought that perhaps we could have an early dinner somewhere."

Not exactly a subtle change of the subject, but Eggsy figures that when you're offering people stuff like dinner with your well fit self, there's no need for subtlety. You'll get your way regardless.

"Suppose I could eat, if it's something good. You buying?"

"I do believe that is traditional," Harry says.


End file.
